Thill-coupling



(No Model.) I

P. J. BAUMGARTNER.

THILL COUPLING.

No; 353,656. Patented Dec. '7, 1886.

m ms UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PETER JOHN BAUMGARTNER, OF BERNE, INDIANA.

THlLL-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 353,656, dated December7, 1886.

(N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, PETER JOHN BAUMGART NER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Berne, in the county of Adams and State of Indiana,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Thill-Oouplings, ofwhich the following is a specification, to wit:

This invention relates to thill-couplings; and it consists in certainpeculiarities of the construction and arrangement of the same,substantially as will be hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my inventionpertains to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe itsconstruction and operation, referring to the accompanying drawings, inwhich Figure 1 is a central longitudinal section of the device. Fig. 2is a top plan View of the same, and Fig. 3 is a detail view of thepivoted keeper.

a represents a clip such as ordinarily used in similar devices to claspthe axle, and is provided with a pair of ears, a, between which is heldthe eye a of the thill (i by a pin, a, which is passed through the earsand thill in the usual and well-known way. This pin is a plain onewithout head or screw, and is not a bolt, as ordinarily used, as Iprefer this constructiomthough a bolt may be used, when preferred, ashereinafter explained.

Upon the sides of the coupling-ears is pivoted a fl-shaped keeper, 1),the ends of which are extended below the pivotal point to form ears I),which, when the device is in use, cover the ends of the pin a*, andeffectually prevent its getting out of place. The top or main body ofthis keeper lies across the upper side of the ears a, and retains inplace a block of rubber, c, which prevents any rattling of the coupling,and this keeper is confined in place by a thumb-screw, 0, formed with aflange or projection, c, on one side, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2, and itwill be thus seen that a halfturn of this screw will confine or releasethe keeper at any time.

In practice the keeper may be used without the extended wings, simply toconfine the antirattler e in place and permit of its ready removal, andan ordinary bolt used through the thill; or the keeper may be used withits extended wings to retain the plain pin shown, and the rubber blockomitted, if desired; but I prefer to use both inthe manner hereinrepresented, as forming a more simple and complete device, not liable atany time to shake loose, and very quickly and easily removed without theuse of wrenches or other tools.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a thill-coupling, the combination of the clip a, with ears a, thethill a", and coupling-

